56 Second Street

c. 1976Courtesy of APOG

Built by Dr. Edward Southall about 1882, this house was sold in 1884 to Henry and Caroline Watrous. Mr. Watrous died in 1891 and in 1905 Mrs. Watrous transferred the deed to her daughter, Frances Watrous Flansburg, and continued residing there with her. In 1913, Mrs. Flansburg opened a tea room here. In 1918, she sold the house to Walter Finley, an undertaker. He remodeled the house in 1930 “along the lines of a modern funeral home” and built a shop next to the garage for upholstering and furniture repair. The house was sold by Mr. Finley in 1941 and since then has seen at least 5 different owners.

Preservation architect Paul Malo says “the tendencies of the seventies toward lighter, more sprightly forms is continued in this large but informal structure with the lathe-turned columns and jig-saw ornament. Large panes of glass were sought a decade or so earlier. Probably Dr. Southall’s house represented the best, advanced taste of 1882.”

Unfortunately, this lovely building burned and was demolished in 2004.